Continued from yesterday’s first installment…

“Choosing A College – Establishing Criteria”
by Patrick Carver

When I agreed on my criteria, the list of schools dramatically changed. Each person has a unique set of tastes, needs, and interests that they enjoy. It is important that you create criteria that reflect you and your interests. Do you enjoy being in large cities or small ones? Do you like being around your family or as far away as possible? Do you want to play right away or are you ok with waiting a few years for your turn? Do you want a big school or a small one? Create a list with about 20-25 possible schools. Research those schools, call their coach, attend the summer camp at one of your top choices, talk to other coaches and try to get a feel for what type of institution you are looking at. A great resource to use is the Sport Source College Guide (link provided on right). This book has detailed information about virtually every soccer program in the country and it will help you narrow your choices without having to do a lot of research yourself.

Probably the biggest thing to keep in mind is to keep an open mind. Be uncompromising when it comes to your goals and aspirations, just don’t be set on one exclusive way to accomplish those goals.

Another crucial component of selecting a college is to be realistic. The truth is that there is a college out there for everyone who wants to play soccer. However, the levels of these colleges are incredibly varied and sometimes exclusive. It is important for you as the player to get a true reflection of your playing abilities so you know where you will best fit inside the college game.

A great way to get an accurate reading of your ability is to go to an experienced coach, whether that is your club, ODP, or camp coach. These coaches are almost always incredibly nice and very honest. They will tell you whether or not you should be holding out for your scholarship to Indiana or it might be better to start looking elsewhere. When I was early in the recruiting process I asked a coach if he thought I could play at Stanford. I learned that I could play at Stanford and be on the team but I wasn’t developed enough as a player to make a large impact. I learned from that and re-tooled the type of schools I was looking at. Be realistic about how much time you will be playing your first year and subsequent years afterwards because it could affect your decision if you are a player that wants to come in and play right away.

It’s best when you are able to get advice from someone who doesn’t have a direct stake in you. What I mean by that is don’t ask for advice from a coach that is trying to recruit you. While the coach may not be trying to manipulate you, he/she will no doubt try to get you to attend his or her institution because it is their job after all. Try and get as many opinions as you can because that will help you get a good feeling about your college soccer choice. I recommend getting these evaluations as soon and often as possible because it gives you time to improve if you are not happy with your level of performance. Once you have a good idea about your level of play you can find out what schools are appropriate for you. Don’t be turned away from sending information to schools that might be out of your league just remember to cover all bases and don’t get caught without a backup plan. Just like any sport, there is select group of schools that gets to handpick the best and brightest athletes in the country. These schools are highly selective and don’t cater to everyone. Going to these highly selective schools means that you need to be prepared for a lot of hard work. Think seriously about the level of commitment you are willing to put in over the next four years.

The entire process of looking for a college is rather daunting. The key to taking control of your recruitment process is to prepare early. A lot of student athletes get passed over and don’t end up at the college they would have liked to go to only because they weren’t organized enough.

There is a place for you to play soccer; you just have to work a little bit to find out where it is. Ask coaches as much as possible because soccer is what they do for a living. I would never have found Emory, the school I will be playing soccer for in the fall, without the help of my coach Jeremy Alumbaugh. The school I had vaguely heard of before turned out to be everything I had hoped for and more. You can find your perfect school as well, just be prepared to put in the work.

Part 2 will be available next Wednesday. Be sure and come back and don’t forget to offer your thoughts via the ‘Comments’ button below this article!nyc vip escorts

I am proud to present my first outside writer. Patrick Carver is very familiar to most of you who play in Springfield. For those readers who are from outside the Springfield Soccer area, a brief introduction. Patrick is a recent graduate of Parkview HS where he was Student Council President as well as a national award winner within their nationally recognized debate program. He was chosen as the Player of the Year by the Springfield Soccer Club (along with Katie Brooks, his classmate at Parkview) in 2005, setting a very high standard for the first time award. On a personal note, Patrick was my nephew Chris’ teammate for at least six years on their club team, as this picture clearly shows. I can’t tell you how much fun I have had cheering these boys for the three years I’ve lived in Springfield (and the few games I made before that).

I initially approached Patrick about the possibility of interviewing him and beginning the process of learning more about the college recruiting cycle for the benefit of my readers. In standard fashion, that wasn’t enough for Patrick. Indicating his interest and desire to support my efforts and the overall goal of advocating for soccer in the Springfield area, Patrick volunteered to take on the project by writing a first person account of his experiences. There will be several articles over the course of the next three weeks, with Wednesday being the publication date. In addition, Patrick is exploring the art and technology of blogging (the method I use to manage this site) and I hope that we will be able to get regular updates from him via his new site as he opens his college soccer career at Emory University in Atlanta this fall.

Choosing a College – Establishing Criteria
by Patrick Carver

Since I began playing soccer I had a very distinct idea of where I wanted to go to college; whatever school had won the NCAA Division 1 Championship the previous year. As I grew older I realized that this might be a bit unrealistic if I actually wanted to play in college, but more importantly it hit me that a lot of the schools that have won NCAA Titles in the last 10 years such as Indiana and Wisconsin were not really places that I wanted to spend the next four years of my life. When it came to making a list of prospective colleges it was important for me to concentrate on what was realistic, accessible, and most importantly a reflection of what I wanted out of my college experience.

It is possible for everyone to find their perfect college. It comes down to whether or not you are willing to do the work and necessary research to find your ideal school. Here are a few tips that might help you find your perfect college fit.

The first step in finding the college of your dreams is to define what you are looking for in a college. As I said before, I believed from day 1 that I was destined to go to a Division 1 school, in fact when I first composed my list of prospective schools I only had one school below the Division 1 level. This list turned out to be very superficial. What I mean by that is I only had colleges that sounded good. The “research” I had done was based only on results and what I thought would sound good when I told people where I was going to college. This approach was completely wrong. If I had gone to most of the schools on my initial list I don’t think I would have been completely happy with my college choice.

One of the most valuable pieces of advice I ever received was from my Springfield Soccer Club coach, Jeremy Alumbaugh, who told me many years ago that the most important part of making your college decision is to choose a school that fits you, one that you will be happy with.

College is something that you shouldn’t have to compromise on and if you do your homework you won’t have to. I knew that I wanted to go to a school that would challenge me academically and prepare me for the future. I wanted to go to a school that was going to be more rigorous than most. Every person is different and needs a different type of academic environment. The key is determining which is best for you. The next thing I looked for was a competitive soccer experience. It is important to get some realistic insight about what level is the best match for you which I will talk about in the next article. I also knew I wanted to be in a big city with a lot of culture and other opportunities that were not available to me here in Springfield. When I agreed on my criteria, the list of schools dramatically changed. Each person has a unique set of tastes, needs, and interests that they enjoy. It is important that you create criteria that reflect you and your interests. Do you enjoy being in large cities or small ones? Do you like being around your family or as far away as possible? Do you want to play right away or are you ok with waiting a few years for your turn? Do you want a big school or a small one? Create a list with about 20-25 possible schools. Research those schools, call their coach, attend the summer camp at one of your top choices, talk to other coaches and try to get a feel for what type of institution you are looking at. A great resource to use is the Sport Source College Guide. This book has detailed information about virtually every soccer program in the country and it will help you narrow your choices without having to do a lot of research yourself.

Probably the biggest thing to keep in mind is to keep an open mind. Be uncompromising when it comes to your goals and aspirations, just don’t be set on one exclusive way to accomplish those goals.

Patrick will be back tomorrow with the wrap up of his discussion on establishing criteria. Let him know what you think by posting a comment – click on the “comments” link below the article!teenage escorts dubai